Joe Flacco will begin again for the New York Jets in Week 2 at the Cleveland Browns

Joe Flacco will begin again for the New York Jets in Week 2 at the Cleveland Browns

The New York Jets are staying with Joe Flacco as their beginning quarterback against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

Coach Robert Saleh reported the decision Wednesday to remain with Flacco this week in spite of a less than inspired performance by the 37-year-old quarterback and the rest of the offense in a 24-9 misfortune to Baltimore in the regular-season opener.

“There were a lot of things that we as a team could have done to help out a lot during the game, too,” Saleh said. “We’ll give it another run, and I think Joe will be a lot better.”

Flacco, beginning for the harmed Zach Wilson, was 37 of 59 for 307 yards and one touchdown — in the game’s last minute — with one interception while confronting steady strain from the Ravens. Flacco was sacked three times and hit 11 times behind a shuffled offensive line, and his absence of portability didn’t help.

“Listen, my job as the quarterback is to put the ball in the end zone and score points and put our team in position to win,” Flacco said. “And any time that doesn’t happen, it kind of starts and ends with your quarterback position, and that’s myself.

“So, it was obviously a frustrating day not being able to do that as well as we wanted to.”

Many fans recited for Mike White to supplant Flacco last Sunday at MetLife Stadium — and took to social media and sports talk radio this week for the backup to play at Cleveland.

Saleh left the chance open Monday when he said all positions were being assessed, including quarterback, yet couched it by saying Flacco would “likely” get a second beginning. Saleh said the Jets never thought about rolling out an improvement from Flacco.

“Joe’s our quarterback,” Saleh said, adding that the group is focused on planning for the Browns.

Wilson had arthroscopic knee surgery last month and furthermore is recuperating from a bone injury in his right knee in the wake of being harmed in the preseason opener at Philadelphia on Aug. 12. He’s expected to be sidelined no less than two additional games, with a potential bring Oct back. 2 at Pittsburgh.

Wilson was restricted practically speaking Wednesday while taking part in light drills, however not team drills yet.

The Jets’ battles against the Ravens were a long way from simply on Flacco, who was wounded by various dropped passes, fumbles and poor protection — “a comedy of errors,” Saleh said. Flacco’s interception happened when tight end Lawrence Cager slipped on the rain-soaked turf.

“When you look back at the game, when he had a clean pocket, he was very, very efficient,” Saleh said of Flacco. “Part of the clean pocket is the offensive line’s responsibility to give it to him and for him to just deliver the ball where it needs to and get off of certain reads. So it was a bunch of different things.”

New York likewise deserted the run early, running 62 pass works out of 79 behind a line that had George Fant flipping from right tackle to left during the week when Duane Brown harmed a shoulder and was placed on injured reserve. Rookie Max Mitchell likewise was constrained into beginning the right side in his NFL debut.

The line will have its hands full again this week while confronting the Browns and edge rusher Myles Garrett, who had two sacks in Cleveland’s season-opening win at Carolina.

Flacco, who enjoyed 11 seasons in the AFC North with Baltimore, has a history of success against Cleveland. His past beginning against the Browns came in 2018 while with the Ravens — a loss — however his 17-3 career regular-season detriment for them is his most wins versus any NFL team.

In the mean time, Flacco stays winless as a starter for the Planes having lost his initial six beginnings with New York returning to the 2020 season.

“It wasn’t his best performance,” Saleh said of Flacco’s game Sunday. “But it wasn’t as bad as people think it was.”